Jen’s Sermon on Psalm 19
Jennifer Goodnow is a congregant at St. Lydia’s. She shared this sermon on Psalm 19 with us at dinner church on July 10.
I keep a copy of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer by my bedside. Over the years I’ve marked it with post-it notes so I can easily find my favorite prayers and psalms. This is one of the psalms I’d marked for myself to read and reread. I like it for the poetry of the language. I brought the King James’ version – which many people feel is the most “poetic” Bible translation. I also brought Eugene Peterson’s contemporary idiomatic translation The Message. There you can see a somewhat hilarious and certainly enthusiastic interpretation of the action, the passion of the psalm.
I have a lot of favorite lines in this poem/psalm. I like the part where the psalmist compares the sun to a bridegroom, a champion bridegroom even. I can just imagine some young man racing out of his nuptial chamber shouting hooray! I
love the part where the psalmist compares God’s judgements to gold and honey in the comb.
But the line that stands out for me the most, the main reason I bookmarked this psalm in my BCP is verse 2 – One day tells its tale to another and one night imparts knowledge to another. The KJ version says – Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. Isn’t that just beautiful? The Message version has “Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.” Not as lyrical, but fun and with more personification.
My understanding of those lines in verse 2 is that it gets better. The western world is progressing year by year, decade by decade as the majority of the people become more tolerant and accepting. America has its first African American president. Gay marriage could never have passed in my mother’s time. Good wins over evil … eventually. During the same decade that nationalism and fascism took hold in throughout Europe, Bill Wilson met Dr. Bob and shared his experience, strength, and hope and A.A. was born. I’ve heard it said that more people around the world have come to a deep personal relationship with their Higher Power through 12 Step groups than via all the religions of the world.
The idea that it gets better has kept me going for my entire life.
Read the rest of Jen’s sermon here.